Microfinance Campaign Gathers Pace in Parliament

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 6th Jul 2004

Annette Brooke, along with other MPs and International Development Organisations discuss United Nations Year of Microfinance 2005

Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Microfinance in the House of Commons recently organised two meetings for MPs and international development organisations in the run up to the United Nations Year of Microfinance 2005.

In anticipation of the Year of Microfinance, Annette Brooke invited fellow MPs, leading organisations supporting microfinance, officials from the Department for International Development (DfID), academics specialising in this form of enterprise development and representatives from various financial institutions in the City to a round table discussion to discuss the strategy for a successful campaign in the next 18 months.

Commenting on the outcomes of the meeting, Annette Brooke MP said:

"I am delighted that the APPG has the support of so many leading organisations, academics and politicians prior to the international year of Microfinance.

"Working together with government, charities, academics and London's financial sector we should be able to raise a lot of awareness of this type of development which enables individuals, families and communities in developing countries to help themselves and work their way out of lifelong poverty."

"The projects we are planning over the next 18 months are very exciting and I am looking forward to the group achieving tangible outcomes in terms of awareness raising and promotion of the cause."

Financial services for the very poorest, including the provision of small loans at low interest rates and savings facilities, are rare in very many developing countries but if used in the right way can help lift families and communities out of poverty. Successful microfinance projects enable individuals, primarily women, to set up small businesses, become self sufficient and provide for themselves and their family for example, by making food or clothing to sell at markets.

The United Nations, the World Bank and other organisations committed to the combat of poverty in the developing world acknowledge that Microfinance projects are an important means of alleviating poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

The All Party Parliamentary Group has established a 'steering group' which will meet monthly to focus on the objectives of the Year of Microfinance 2005 and is planning a reception at the House of Commons to raise yet more awareness among leading parliamentarians, particularly Ministers at the Department for International Development and at the Treasury.